Synthesis of a novel post-metallocene titanium complex of chelating [ONOO]-type ligand and studies on the effect of an extra donor arm on its reactivity in aqueous emulsion polymerization

Abstract

In the present work, a new Ti complex LTiCl2 {LH2 = 2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzylamino)-succinic acid}-bearing tetradentate [ONOO] donors has been synthesized and used in the homopolymerization of methyl methacrylate and styrene in aqueous emulsion. The effect of co-catalyst NaBPh4 with ion-pair BPh 4 − was also studied on the catalytic activity. Moreover, synthesized complex has been characterized by 1H NMR, UV–visible spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectra and elemental analysis. The fabricated polymers have been tested using different characterizations, viz. 1H NMR, 13C NMR, DSC, DLS, XRD and GPC analysis. The GPC analysis reveals that polymer product obtained has high molecular weight, and the amorphous behavior of the polymer product was indicated by the XRD and DSC analysis. In addition to this, kinetic parameters like activation energy and rate constant for polymethyl methacrylate have also been examined.